With all the hype being given to the shutdown of the federal government, it is amazing how little it has actually affected us — the country still exists, is represented as a country throughout the world, we are still being defended, banks are open, and the mail is still getting delivered. Essential services are still being provided and performed.

I realize this letter will be unpopular with many people, but, maybe we really don't need all those non-essential federal workers. The founding fathers foresaw a need for only four executive departments. The government functioned pretty well for nearly one-hundred years before a fifth department was added.

If only we had some political leaders with the guts to actually run the country in an effective and efficient manner, by trimming unnecessary fat in the federal government, we could balance and trim the budget.

Politics has degenerated to the level of giving in to the interest groups it takes to get re-elected, so that will never happen, and the federal government will eventually reopen and continue to provide tax-payer funded non-essential services.

Jim Netterfield

No resolution

Re: “Irrational, avoidable and predictable,” Our Turn, Oct. 2:

The E-N was wrong — the unconscionable statement was, “... make no mistake; House Republicans are the architects of this shutdown ...” The president and Harry Reid made it clear right from the start that they were unwilling to discuss any changes to the continuing resolution that would avoid the shutdown.

Their strategy could have been improved upon, but Republicans were doing their best to represent the will of the people as demonstrated in the polls. Democrats showed their bias when they wouldn't even lift the Obamacare exemptions for Congress.

The president's lies and half-truths won't change reality, which is that Obamacare is not in the best interest of the nation.